Rockets’ red glare can bring citation in some areas

By Andrew Wellner
Frontiersman

MAT-SU — So you’ve made the trip to Houston and come back with a bag full of fireworks for your Fourth of July celebration.

Now what?

Among the three Valley municipalities and the Mat-Su Borough, there are varying rules for celebrating Independence Day with the bang of fireworks. Your best bet was probably to stay in Houston — at least on the Fourth of July, as the discharge of fireworks is illegal anywhere else.

“You can possess them all day long, you just can’t set them off,” Palmer Police Department Det. Sgt. Kelly Turney said of the rules about fireworks in Palmer.

In Wasilla, the rules are much the same, although there is an exception made on one day — New Year’s Eve. Wasilla police Sgt. Kelly Swihart said residents can light off fireworks for seven hours — from 6 p.m. Dec. 30 to 1 a.m. Jan. 1. All other times, it’s illegal, including the Fourth of July.

For those living outside a municipality in the Borough the rules are plainly stated on the Borough’s Web site: “The private use of fireworks is prohibited in all of the Matanuska Susitna Borough outside the city limits. Fireworks are also prohibited in the cities of Palmer and Wasilla.”

But in Houston, it’s a different story.

“The use of fireworks is permitted within the city for personal or private use on real property owned by the person,” said Houston police Officer Jason Holmgren, quoting city code. He added fireworks are also permitted someone else’s property with consent.

In Wasilla, Swihart said this Fourth of July, like those in past years, will likely see a smattering of fireworks calls.

“I’m sure we’ll get several complaints. Normally, what we try to do is educate people to make sure they know the rules and then if we get more complaints, issue some citations,” Swihart said.

Turney said Palmer’s procedure is generally the same, but Palmer cops don’t get many fireworks calls.

“If we do, by the time we get there either they’re gone or it’s just kids and we just kind of tell them, ‘Hey you can’t light them off,’” Turney said.